


This Is How It Was Meant to Be

by Dane_Wilshire



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, non-cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-05 07:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1810030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dane_Wilshire/pseuds/Dane_Wilshire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This is how it was meant to be.”<br/>“BOLLOCKS it is!” Ron Weasley screamed back.<br/>It takes some time, and some more screaming, before Harry and Ron figure out what is meant to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Is How It Was Meant to Be

“This is how it was meant to be.”

“BOLLOCKS it is!” Ron Weasley screamed back at his best mate, Harry Potter. The two young men, for they were young men at the end of their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, were sitting alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express as it rolled along towards London. They were alone because they had been quarrelling since just after the train left Hogsmeade Station…and their angry voices kept the other students out to the compartment. Ron was pacing the compartment like a caged lion.

“But, Ron…,” Harry started to say.

Ron stopped his pacing and towered over his friend. His normally placid blue eyes suddenly changed and reminded Harry of the stormy sea that surrounded the hut on the rock where this whole adventure began.

“Don’t you ‘But, Ron’ me, Harry James Potter! I’m right and you damn well know it. It may have been meant for you to face Volde—, You-Know-Who, and maybe…just maybe…it was meant for Dumbledore to…,” Ron gulped the word back; he couldn’t quite accept yet that Dumbledore was dead much less say it. “You’re bleedin’ fucked in the head if you think that leaving Hogwarts now, and cutting those of us who care about you out of your life, is not only for the best but was somehow _meant to be_. You’re a powerful wizard, Harry, and I’ve known that for years, but there’re still things you need to learn and need to know before you can face and defeat What’s-his-Nuts.”

“But, Ron, you said…,”

“Yeah I did and I meant it. I’ll stand by you, whatever you decide.” Ron continued his pacing and began gesturing wildly into the air. “I’m trying to convince you that you have options and someone…er, friends, who will back you up when it gets rough. Going out there on your own, right now, with this anger and revenge will get you killed faster than anything. You know I’m right! Even when we’ve been angry with each other, we’ve never let the other down. I’m not about to start now.” Ron stopped when he once again reached the window and he watched the rapidly passing landscape. He dropped his forehead against the cool glass and heaved a deep sigh, a sigh fraught with pain and confusion.

Harry sat still on his seat. He couldn’t help but feel that maybe Ron had The Gift as he had almost perfectly channelled Molly Weasley in his recent tirade. After so many years together, he knew something of Ron’s temper, but he had never been so chastised by his best mate. The sound of Ron sighing again made him look up from his lap towards the window. Ron lifted his forehead from the glass and turned his back to Harry. He stood like that for a moment then slumped into the seat across from Harry.

“Listen, Harry,” Ron’s voice was careworn and almost a whisper compared to the Howler-like shouting just a few minutes before. “I don’t want to start our summer off like this. I don’t want this to hang over us until September. I just don’t want you running off into the face of death without thinking about it. This is not how it was meant to be.

“Let’s call a truce…for now. You’re coming to stay at The Burrow, and if we get off this train and Mum senses we’ve had a row…and you know she will…our little screaming match will be nothing. Trust me; her screaming will make the Bandon Banshee even greener – from envy. Just promise me, Harry, promise me you will think this through before you make up your mind.”

Harry sat and blinked at Ron. He’d never heard such emotion from him before and it was slightly disconcerting. Ron noticed the expression and a small grin played on his lips before it grew into a full-fledged smile.

“What?” Ron asked. “You didn’t think someone with the emotional depth of a teaspoon could come up with something like that? Yeah, I know Hermione said it…hell, she even said it directly to me. Sometimes, it’s true. Now, it’s not.”

“Okay, Ron, let’s have that truce.” Harry couldn’t help but smile back, letting the tension and anger just drain away. His muscles immediately relaxed. He hadn’t even realized he’d drawn them taut like he did when he was watching for the snitch. He stuck out his hand towards Ron so they could shake and formalize their truce.

Ron tilted his head slightly to his right before he extended his own hand and grasped Harry’s. He held onto Harry’s hand and pulled Harry a little bit forward off his seat. “Whatever you decide, just remember this – you will not be doing it alone.” Ron looked directly into Harry’s sad green eyes before squeezing his hand, giving it a single up-and-down shake, and then releasing it. The two lapsed into a silence that, though it was not quite companionable was also not uncomfortable, lasted for the remainder of the train ride into London.

 

*~*~*~*

 

Two weeks into the summer holidays, Arthur Weasley stopped by the Dursley’s to retrieve Harry. Arthur even remembered to approach the front door and, though he couldn’t figure out the doorbell, he succeeded in getting Harry away without incident. The two wizards Flooed back to The Burrow from Arabella Figg’s fireplace. Molly Weasley met them and immediately shuttled Harry off to the kitchen in order to feed him. Not for the first time Harry wondered how the Weasley children had survived without being plump as Christmas geese.

There was still a bit of tension between Ron and Harry, but it had lessened with the passing of a fortnight. Molly observed this quietly and from the corners of her eyes. She could always tell when there was something bothering any of her children, and she had come to think of Harry as yet another of that number. This time, she chose to stay out of it…the apprehension between the two boys had a certain quality that her instincts told her they must resolve for themselves. They were still friendly with each other, but there was a reticence…a holding back from their usual boisterous boyishness.

Later that night in Ron’s room at the top of The Burrow they readied themselves for bed. The ghoul in the attic was well into, what sounded to be, a nightlong haunting. Perhaps it was the nervousness that set the ghoul off. The rattling and keening of the ghoul, paired with the boys’ discussion on the Hogwarts Express, prevented a quick trip to dreamland. Both Harry and Ron were tossing and ill at ease in their beds.

Ron sat up in his bed and gazed through the dark towards Harry’s bed. “Alright, Harry?” he asked.

“Fine, Ron,” Harry replied. “Doesn’t seem like that ghoul’s going to shut up anytime soon.”

“Most likely not. Mind you, it’s been a long time since it last got this wound up, so I reckon we’re overdue for a long squawk.” Ron paused, and then added, “It’s a helluva way to welcome you back home.”

Harry sat up in his bed and turned sideways, propping his back against the wall then bringing his knees to his chest. The night was moonless and he wasn’t wearing his glasses, so even though he couldn’t properly focus he did look over at Ron’s bed. “You know, this is about the only place I’ve ever felt like could be home. It’s kind of difficult to say, since I’ve never really known a home.” He could hear rustling from the other bed, then a soft grunt. Ron must have turned onto his side.

“Sorry, Harry, I didn’t even think of that. I’ve just thought of this place as much your home as it is mine. And Harry, I’m sorry about the way I behaved on the train.” The last was spoken so softly Harry wasn’t sure he’d actually heard it. He sat still and quiet for a moment as the ghoul dragged something large and heavy across the attic floor above him.

“That’s okay, Ron. You did have several good points that were loudly made.” He chuckled to himself.

Ron chuckled, too. “Bloody hell, if I didn’t sound just like my Mum on the train. It’s just that,” Ron paused. Harry wondered what would follow before Ron continued in a small voice, “It’s just that you’re the only friend I’ve had that hasn’t been a Weasley. I don’t want to see you do something as dangerous as what you’re thinking about doing. I don’t know what I’d do without you around.” Just as Ron spoke that, the ghoul in the attic decided to take a break. Ron’s words, though spoken quietly, rang like the peal of bells in the night. The only other sound Harry could hear after that was a loud gulp and choke from the other side of the room.

The small room at the top of the house was quiet for some time. The echoing silence was only broken by a sudden loud snort, then a snore, then more silence. The ghoul had fallen asleep, but the occupants of the little room under the eaves were wide awake…and staring through the shadows in the direction of the other.

Harry heard muttering from the other bed that sounded oddly like, ‘Oh, shit, damn, bugger, fuckin' idiot.’ Harry spoke into the gloom, “Ron, I understand. You’re the only friend I’ve ever had. The only one. Ever. I don’t know what I’d without you to fight with or push me or laugh with either.”

There was another noise from the other bed that was hard for Harry to make out then some more muttering, which was a little muffled, like it was spoken into a hand or pillow, “This isn’t how I meant it to be.”

“What’s that Ron?”

“Merlin, why can’t I keep my mouth shut?”

“What are you talking about, Ron?” Harry got off his bed and walked across the room. Even though he was trying to be cautious, he stumbled over the mess of clothes on Ron’s floor and tottered headlong towards it. Suddenly two long, strong hands grabbed him just under the arms and stopped him. “Ron?”

“Harry, you better sit down. We’re not quite done with that talk we started on the train.” Ron’s hands guided Harry to the edge of the bed. Harry sat down as Ron sat up. Another one of those pained sighs passed Ron’s lips and was followed by a shuddering intake of breath.

“Harry, I was being selfish on the train. I didn’t…I don’t want you to go. We started this together and we should finish this together. Hogwarts, I mean.” Harry heard another swallow before Ron went on, “Everything, I mean. You see…well, of course, you can’t see…it’s bloody dark and here and you don’t have your glasses. I can’t do this.”

“Ron. What in the world are you murmuring about?”

Ron leaned backwards and his head banged the wall, “Harry, I think of you as a part of me. You’re closer to me than even my brothers. We’re a team…we’re partners…” Ron’s voice trailed off again and became the barest of whispers, “at least, I wish we could be partners.”

“We are, Ron. That’s why I’ve decided not to leave Hogwarts. You were right. You. Are. Right. There is a lot more I need to learn and know.”

“Yes, Harry, there is more you need to know.” Ron focused inside himself and found that spot where Gryffindor bravery lived. “Harry…I…Harry, I mean that I wish we could be partners. I wasn’t being the overbearing brother when you were seeing Ginny. I was being jealous…of Ginny.”

“You mean…? You were jealous of Ginny?”

“Yes. Because she got to hold you, and look into your eyes and kiss you. I wanted to do that. I do want to do that. It’s taken a year for me to realize it, Harry, but I love you…and definitely NOT like a brother.”

“Ronald Bilius Weasley.” Harry said as he turned on the bed to look at Ron. Ron was close enough Harry could see him. “You mean all this time, this is what this has been about?”

“Yes. Since the end of fourth year.”

“And you wait until now to say anything? Ron, sometimes I think that teaspoon remark is apt.” Harry chuckled.

“What?” Ron sat upright in the bed and almost bashed Harry in the nose as he did.

“Ron. Think about it a minute. You were the thing I would most sorely miss in the second test of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Whenever we argue most of Gryffindor, not to mention Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, are trying to get us to patch it up. You’ve never noticed that?”

“As a matter of fact, I have Harry. Well, in the past year I have.”

“You know what else, Ron? We’re both idiots.” Harry reached out and took Ron’s hands in his. “This is how it was meant to be.”


End file.
